Help with Disk Management and how to simplify the hard drive

[nicjohns42]

Hello all,

I am currently trying to figure out what the previous tech did to this user's computer. I should preface this by saying that the end goal is to expand C because it is almost full. As you can see from the attachment, there are three additional partitions after C. I am wondering what the best course of action is to simplify this set up. There isnt anything of major value in the three extended partitions. Mainly, he set up alternate temp directories to them, however I know how to change that. My first question is why is there a page file in both C and E. The one in E is the same size as the RAM on the machine, which I understand is how it should be. The one on C, is like 800,000 kbs, so about a tenth the size it should be. So my question is, if I copy page sys from E to say the last partition, then merge E and F into C (using partition magic). THEN copy and replace the Page Sys file onto C, and finally merge G into C, how safe is doing that (sorry for the run on sentence there). As I previously stated, I really want to simplify the partitions on the drive. Or at least get it so there is more than 30.2 mbs remaining on C. Or is there a better, safer option?

I apologize if any of this is unclear, windows support is not my forte. I can try to clarify anything as needed.

Thanks!

 

[samuria]

Welcome to the forum you need to remove e,f,g then grow drive c they are logical drives

 

[nicjohns42]

And I imagine it's safer to do this in partition magic? And is it better to delete them, then expand or just merge them?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Partition Wizard is the preferred tool.

I don't see any over-riding reason why you would need logical partitions.

If there is stuff on E, F, and G that you want to keep, copy that stuff elsewhere temporarily.

Then delete E, F, and G and the extended partition which contains them.

Then add however much you want of that recovered space to C.

Then make an ordinary D (not an extended/logical D) of the remainder.

Then move the stuff you temporarily copied back to D and use a standard folder structure on D to categorize your files.

If you don't care about anything on E, F, or G, then just delete those partitions.

Logical and extended partitions are a bit goofy as I recall. You may have to jump through some hoops to get rid of them, but Partition Wizard would still be the tool. Partition Magic is rarely heard of around here--if it's still around at all.

 

[nicjohns42]

Someone who has worked on Windows systems longer than I recommended it. And as far as the page sys stuff, do you have an recommendations on how to handle that.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Someone who has worked on Windows systems longer than I recommended it. And as far as the page sys stuff, do you have an recommendations on how to handle that.

Page file??

Let Window manage it.

 

[Eric3742]

I am currently trying to figure out what the previous tech did to this user's computer. I should preface this by saying that the end goal is to expand C because it is almost full.

It is better to show the Disk Management in full, including the percentage of each partition.
Without this, we are guessing only to rely on your words.

As to saying "almost full" is at what %.

Have you go thru the C:\ drive what is inside this system partition.

If there are a lot of "unknown" applications, then you have to decide on whether to continue to use &or remove and uninstall the applications of no use to you.

This is part of removing unnecessary applications in order to regain the wasteful storage.
And in the long term, these unnecessary applications will &or may affect your computer performance to the point of giving you a lot of problems.

This is the time to address on what you need and want as to keep, and remove and uninstall applications.

This clean-up required to look at non application such as data files not related to your usefulness.
The data files are most probably inside the Users folders, which may have used a lot of the storage space, hence the C:\ drive is almost full.
That is to delete the previous users from the profile, totally.

In fact, the previous owner had done a good job, by looking the way the partitions had given some purpose.


Do some housekeeping by review what you need and remove those that are not yours.


In the end, this 100GB for C:\ drive would have plenty of storage space.

In usual Windows system would only occupied 50GB of actual space.

Get the pagefile.sys back to C:\ drive.


As to why.
When there is a change of drives & partitions, sometime system will give another drive &or partition may allocate the label as E:\ drive.
This will in return may cause your system to unable to find the system managed pagefile.sys

So my question is, if I copy page sys from E to say the last partition,

You cannot just copy the pagefile.sys as like any other files.

It has to do it within Windows system, and to indicate which partitions..

You need to go directly into the Virtual Memory to see how many "system managed" for /in which partition.
Then do the changes.




Before doing any merge partitions, the data would be lost &or deleted.

Either you create a separate partition just for your data alone.

Until your space is running low, then review the previous owner's data, if any, as being deleted &or empty.

 

[Layback Bear]

Completing this tutorial by Golden would make things better to see.

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image


Jack

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I would just keep the recovery partition, the C: partition and move all your data to one data partition and remove the other two data partitions, then expand the remaining data partition. Unless you have some large games on it, C: partition seems to have too much on it. If the reason is data on the C: partition, I would move the data off of it and keep only the OS and programs on it.

Before doing anything to the drive, make sure you have at least one backup of the entire drive (two would be much better).

Keeping the system files OS and programs) separate from the data files will make it easier to back up everything. Imaging is the best way to backup system files and folder/file syncing is best for data.

 

[Digerati]

Partition Wizard is the preferred tool.

Not really a good idea to pretend to speak for everyone. Partition Wizard is NOT my preferred tool. It is good but twice as many others users, including me, prefer EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition over Partition Wizard.

My first question is why is there a page file in both C and E.

I don't know why you have two page files. You should never have more than one on the same physical drive - that is in multiple partitions on the same hard drive. That just results in excessive R/W head thrashing and can degrade performance.

But you can have a page file on multiple drives. In no way does that degrade performance and in fact, it can improve performance as Windows will use each simultaneously, if needed. And that's a good thing as long as you have enough free space on each drive.

You don't "copy and move" or "copy and replace" page files. Remember, the data saved to a page file is just temporary - put there by the OS to speed up access to that data. So you don't "move" a page file. You simply delete the old and create a new PF on the new drive (if a new one is needed). Technically, you can copy it (with a little trickery), but the OS will not recognize the new copy as a page file, nor will it know where it is because it will not be properly identified in the Registry. So it will just sit there, unused, wasting space.

And I agree completely to just let Windows manage your Page File(s). It knows how to manage memory, and specifically in this case, virtual memory, very well without any user intervention.

BEFORE DOING ANYTHING, however, backup any data you don't want to lose. I've used Partition Master 100s of times over the years and have NEVER lost any data. But ANY TIME you mess with partitions, there is a risk something could go wrong. This is a good time for my standard pitch of recommending every computer be on a "good" UPS with AVR. An untimely power outage in the middle of resizing partitions would likely be disastrous.

 

[GEWB]

Whoa, stop! Do not pass GO.

The previous tech knew exactly what they were doing (except forgetting to delete the orphaned page file). That drive is partitioned in a very logical way: Windows 7 related on C:, permanant Swap on E:, App(s)lications on F:, user Data on G:.

If you just copy over/merge E: and F: into C: then the applications will break - it likely will be a mess. What you propose to do really needs a complete reinstallation of all applications after blowing out and merging partitions into C:. Even then you may not gain much free space.

You have two page files due to a procedural error during initial repartitioning and rebooting. I've done it, no big deal as only ONE of the files is actually used - the one in the current Windows setup. Don't let this bother you, it's a non-issue and easily fixed.

First find which page file is really in use, then delete the orphaned file. From the Control Panel:

1. Open System.
2. Click Advanced system settings.
3. On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
4. Click the Advanced tab, then under Virtual memory click Change.
5. If selected, clear (deselect or uncheck) the Automatically manage paging file size check box.
6. Click the No paging file radio button.
7. Click the Set button.
8. Click the OK button.

Close all program and windows then reboot the computer.

If there is no longer a paging file in C:, then that was the one in use. If there is a paging file on C: you can now delete it using SHIFT-DELETE.

Go back into the Control Panel and manually set the virtual memory to drive E: with a Custom size of Initial and Maximum of 16384 each (this is for 16GB of RAM). Set, OK and reboot. On reboot the new fixed size (not dynamic) page file will be written on the E: drive.

Next determine if ANY application is installed on the F: drive. If apps are there then you must decide: uninstall each application from F: and reinstall them after reworking the partitions OR leave the installation structure as-is.

If you decide to leave well enough alone, then you can begin shrinking and moving E:, F:, and G:.

Begin with shrinking G: by removing some of its free space. Then do F: and E:.

Move G: to the end (far right) end, move F: up to G: and E: up to F:.

Expand C: out to E:.

This is all you can get out of that drive. If you need more, get a large drive or uninstall unused stuff.
Regards,
GEWB

 

[Digerati]

GEWB is absolutely right about messing up your installed programs if they currently are installed on E: F: or G: and suddenly you merge those partitions into C. But it typically is not hard to reinstall them. With Microsoft Office for example, it is a piece of case and in fact, it only takes seconds as the installer will see the old installation and just update the Registry with the new locations. Other programs should be almost as easy. But as I noted before, backup anything you don't want to lose.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

GEWB is absolutely right about messing up your installed programs if they currently are installed on E: F: or G: and suddenly you merge those partitions into C. But it typically is not hard to reinstall them. With Microsoft Office for example, it is a piece of case and in fact, it only takes seconds as the installer will see the old installation and just update the Registry with the new locations. Other programs should be almost as easy. But as I noted before, backup anything you don't want to lose.

There, fixed it for you